The present invention generally relates to lighting. More specifically, the present invention relates to LED lighting for large areas such as sports venues utilizing LED luminaires.
In a sports lighting luminaire consisting of an array of series-connected high brightness LED's, there are frequently fixture measurements functions and controls that need to be powered. These can include, for example, measurements of optical intensity, fixture operating temperature, fixture voltage and fixture current. In order to provide those measurements, and potentially to provide electrical power to communicate those measurements to lighting controlling devices remote from the luminaire, a power source must be provided.
Since LED luminaires for e.g. sports lighting are typically mounted at a distance from lighting control devices on costly and difficult to erect high poles or structures, which already require multiple power wires for multiple luminaires, providing these functions while avoiding extra wires to and from the luminaire is a very desirable goal.
Therefore it is highly desirable in the industry to provide a power supply that can somehow be powered by the current that is available from the driver to the LEDs in the luminaire. But these power sources are not readily available in the industry. While there are many commercially available power supplies available, the needs of providing a robust power supply capable of using the power from an LED driver that can range up to 1000 VDC have not previously been met by the industry, nor are there off-the-shelf power supplies that can be easily adapted for this use.
Thus, there is room for improvement in the art.